Oz, the Complete Paperback Collection. L. Frank Baum

did you grow?" asked the Wizard.

      "I will show you," was the reply. "Step this way, please."

      He led them within another but smaller circle of hedge, where grew one large and beautiful bush.

      "This," said he, "is the Royal Bush of the Mangaboos. All of our Princes and Rulers have grown upon this one bush from time immemorial."

      They stood before it in silent admiration. On the central stalk stood poised the figure of a girl so exquisitely formed and colored and so lovely in the expression of her delicate features that Dorothy thought she had never seen so sweet and adorable a creature in all her life. The maiden's gown was soft as satin and fell about her in ample folds, while dainty lace-like traceries trimmed the bodice and sleeves. Her flesh was fine and smooth as polished ivory, and her poise expressed both dignity and grace.

      "Who is this?" asked the Wizard, curiously.

      The Prince had been staring hard at the girl on the bush. Now he answered, with a touch of uneasiness in his cold tones:

      "She is the Ruler destined to be my successor, for she is a Royal Princess. When she becomes fully ripe I must abandon the sovereignty of the Mangaboos to her."

      "Isn't she ripe now?" asked Dorothy.

      He hesitated.

      "Not quite," said he, finally. "It will be several days before she needs to be picked, or at least that is my judgment. I am in no hurry to resign my office and be planted, you may be sure."

      "Probably not," declared the Wizard, nodding.

      "This is one of the most unpleasant things about our vegetable lives," continued the Prince, with a sigh, "that while we are in our full prime we must give way to another, and be covered up in the ground to sprout and grow and give birth to other people."

      "I'm sure the Princess is ready to be picked," asserted Dorothy, gazing hard at the beautiful girl on the bush. "She's as perfect as she can be."

      "Never mind," answered the Prince, hastily, "she will be all right for a few days longer, and it is best for me to rule until I can dispose of you strangers, who have come to our land uninvited and must be attended to at once."

      "What are you going to do with us?" asked Zeb.

      "That is a matter I have not quite decided upon," was the reply. "I think I shall keep this Wizard until a new Sorcerer is ready to pick, for he seems quite skillful and may be of use to us. But the rest of you must be destroyed in some way, and you cannot be planted, because I do not wish horses and cats and meat people growing all over our country."

      "You needn't worry," said Dorothy. "We wouldn't grow under ground, I'm sure."

      "But why destroy my friends?" asked the little Wizard. "Why not let them live?"

      "They do not belong here," returned the Prince. "They have no right to be inside the earth at all."

      "We didn't ask to come down here; we fell," said Dorothy.

      "That is no excuse," declared the Prince, coldly.

      The children looked at each other in perplexity, and the Wizard sighed. Eureka rubbed her paw on her face and said in her soft, purring voice:

      "He won't need to destroy ME, for if I don't get something to eat pretty soon I shall starve to death, and so save him the trouble."

      "If he planted you, he might grow some cat-tails," suggested the Wizard.

      "Oh, Eureka! perhaps we can find you some milk-weeds to eat," said the boy.

      "Phoo!" snarled the kitten; "I wouldn't touch the nasty things!"

      "You don't need milk, Eureka," remarked Dorothy; "you are big enough now to eat any kind of food."

      "If I can get it," added Eureka.

      "I'm hungry myself," said Zeb. "But I noticed some strawberries growing in one of the gardens, and some melons in another place. These people don't eat such things, so perhaps on our way back they will let us get them."

      "Never mind your hunger," interrupted the Prince. "I shall order you destroyed in a few minutes, so you will have no need to ruin our pretty melon vines and berry bushes. Follow me, please, to meet your doom."

      Chapter Five

      Dorothy Picks the Princess

      The words of the cold and moist vegetable Prince were not very comforting, and as he spoke them he turned away and left the enclosure. The children, feeling sad and despondent, were about to follow him when the Wizard touched Dorothy softly on her shoulder.

      "Wait!" he whispered.

      "What for?" asked the girl.

      "Suppose we pick the Royal Princess," said the Wizard. "I'm quite sure she's ripe, and as soon as she comes to life she will be the Ruler, and may treat us better than that heartless Prince intends to."

      "All right!" exclaimed Dorothy, eagerly. "Let's pick her while we have the chance, before the man with the star comes back."

      So together they leaned over the great bush and each of them seized one hand of the lovely Princess.

      "Pull!" cried Dorothy, and as they did so the royal lady leaned toward them and the stems snapped and separated from her feet. She was not at all heavy, so the Wizard and Dorothy managed to lift her gently to the ground.

      The beautiful creature passed her hands over her eyes an instant, tucked in a stray lock of hair that had become disarranged, and after a look around the garden made those present a gracious bow and said, in a sweet but even toned voice:

      "I thank you very much."

      "We salute your Royal Highness!" cried the Wizard, kneeling and kissing her hand.

      Just then the voice of the Prince was heard calling upon them to hasten, and a moment later he returned to the enclosure, followed by a number of his people.

      Instantly the Princess turned and faced him, and when he saw that she was picked the Prince stood still and began to tremble.

      "Sir," said the Royal Lady, with much dignity, "you have wronged me greatly, and would have wronged me still more had not these strangers come to my rescue. I have been ready for picking all the past week, but because you were selfish and desired to continue your unlawful rule, you left me to stand silent upon my bush."

      "I did not know that you were ripe," answered the Prince, in a low voice.

      "Give me the Star of Royalty!" she commanded.

      Slowly he took the shining star from his own brow and placed it upon that of the Princess. Then all the people bowed low to her, and the Prince turned and walked away alone. What became of him afterward our friends never knew.

      The people of Mangaboo now formed themselves into a procession and marched toward the glass city to escort their new ruler to her palace and to perform those ceremonies proper to the occasion. But while the people in the procession walked upon the ground the Princess walked in the air just above their heads, to show that she was a superior being and more exalted than her subjects.

      No one now seemed to pay any attention to the strangers, so Dorothy and Zeb and the Wizard let the train pass on and then wandered by themselves into the vegetable gardens. They did not bother to cross the bridges over the brooks, but when they came to a stream they stepped high and walked in the air to the other side. This was a very interesting experience to them, and Dorothy said:

      "I wonder why it is that we can walk so easily in the air."

      "Perhaps," answered the Wizard, "it is because we are close to the center of the earth, where the attraction of gravitation is very slight. But I've noticed that many queer things happen in fairy countries."

      "Is this a fairy country?" asked the boy.

      "Of course it is," returned Dorothy promptly. "Only a